Board

Crystal McKinnon

VC Indigenous Research Fellow, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Chairperson

Dr Crystal McKinnon is Vice Chancellor’s Indigenous Research Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University. Crystal is an extensively published academic and expert speaker and presenter on subjects related to Indigenous People’s civil rights, sovereignty and experiences of the criminal legal system. Crystal is a member of various academic bodies and is involved in academic administration, university governance and wider participation in the Boards of various not-for-profit organisations.

Cienan Muir

Founder of INDIGINERD
Deputy Chair

Cienan Muir is a Yorta Yorta and Ngarrindjeri man who grew up in Northcote, going to Thornbury Primary and then Northcote High, before completing a social sciences degree. When Cienan was younger, he lived in Echuca, Moama and Mooroopna. A big advocate for ensuring our young people have the voice and the opportunity to make the changes they want to see in the future, this is seen through his work with the Koorie Youth Council. Cienan has a passion for Indigenous creativity, storytelling and representation within the popular culture arena, hosting Australia’s first ever Indigenous Comic Con, presenting and facilitating many panels and workshops on Indigenous representation, and growing his business, INDIGINERD, into a much-loved icon.

Tarneen Onus Browne

Secretary

Tarneen Onus Williams is a proud Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta person through their mother and Bindal and Meriam person through their father. Tarneen is living on the unceded land of the Wurundjeri peoples.

Tarneen is a community organising lead at Australian Progress, previously VALS community legal educator, a community organiser for Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance working on Invasion Day, Black Deaths in Custody and Black Lives Matter. They’re also a writer and filmmaker that has been published in IndigenousX, The Urban List, Crikey, NITV and RightNow. Tarneen’s film “young mob questioning treaty” has been screened internationally at ImagineNATIVE in Toronto and Tampere Film Festival in Finland.

Apryl Day

Treasurer

Apryl Day is a proud Yorta Yorta, Wemba Wemba and Barapa Barapa woman. She is a community organiser and campaigner, and a member of both Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance Victoria and Pay the Rent. She is the daughter of Tanya Day – a proud Yorta Yorta woman who died in custody in 2017. Apryl and her family successfully led the campaign to end the criminalisation of public drunkenness in Victoria and is at the forefront of the fight for police accountability and justice matters. Apryl is the Executive Officer and Founder of the Dhadjowa Foundation which provides culturally safe and strategic guidance and support to families whose loved ones have died in custody in hopes to amplify the campaigning of families and end Aboriginal deaths in custody.

Apryl Day is co-owner of Interlude Bar, a cocktail bar and restaurant. She has won many awards, including Voltaire Human Rights Award (Jun 2021), Liberty Victoria, Civil Justice Award (May 2021), Australian Lawyers Alliance, Women of the Year Recipient (Nov 2020), Marie Claire, and the Tim McCoy Human Rights Award (Nov 2019).

Luke Martin

Solicitor, Peninsula Community Legal Centre Member Luke is a lawyer and MD candidate, who is honoured to live in Naarm (Melbourne) on the Wurundjeri lands of the Kulin nations. He has worked in International mergers and acquisitions, equities, intellectual property, tax, government advisory, and Indigenous health research. Luke is a Palawa man who is passionate about empowering First Nations’ voices to work with government and businesses to help bridge the gap in law, health and economics.

Erin Rose

Budj Bim World Heritage Executive Officer
Member

Erin Rose is Gunditjmara from South West Victoria. Erin has worked in the justice sector for several years providing cultural and reintegration support to Aboriginal people in the justice system, before this she worked across a number of Aboriginal Community Organisations providing advocacy and support. Currently, Erin is the Budj Bim World Heritage Executive Officer at Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Cooperation overseeing the management and protection of the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape and its values.

Bobby Nicholls

Member

Bobby Nicholls is a proud Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, and Wadjabalok man and the nephew of Sir Douglas Nicholls. Bobby was a Director of VACCA for 10 years, first joining in 1981. Bobby has worked in community run organisations such as the Aborigines Advancement League, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, and the Aboriginal Housing Board of Victoria. Bobby is one of the founding members of Yarnin’ Pictures, formed by his passion to document Elders stories whilst training Aboriginal youth in the art of filmmaking. To this end, he helped create an App called “Yalinguth” a Woi-wurrung word meaning ‘yesterday’ which echoes the sentiments of many Elders that “we need to go back, before we can go forwards”.

The Yalinguth app can be used for many educational and cultural applications, including efforts towards greater cultural awareness within schools for teachers and students, and in particular as a resource for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority.